


The Penitent

by Something_Inconspicuous



Category: Fallout - Fandom, Fallout 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 10:36:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5925373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Something_Inconspicuous/pseuds/Something_Inconspicuous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A narrative of my first playthrough, featuring Beth as the sole survivor. I'm trying to make it more like a literary work, finding symbolism in the game and tying it to the overarching message of the Fallout series. I will write as I play.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Penitent

She woke in a full sweat, gasping at the sound of creaking wood, her heightened instincts warning her to search for possible invaders. But as she felt the heat of the wasteland bearing down on her, blinded by the beams of sunlight breaking through the decrepit roof, she remembered where she was. If the wood was creaking, it was because the emaciated structure was continuing its struggle to support her weight. 

She sighed, wiping the moisture from her brow. She caught a glimpse of her hand, the tarnished wedding band glinting in the sunlight. Beneath it her fingers were bent, twisted, dirty things. These were not the hands of Mrs. Elizabeth, loving wife and mother from the suburbs. These were the hands of Beth, a woman out of time, forced to be the only penitent for the sins of the now distant past. 

She let out a weak, low whistle. Her dry lips could muster little more. Luckily, Dogmeat was still able to hear her signal, and came up the stairs of the small home. She stood shakily, leaning on a nearby wall for support. They were close enough to Lexington to afford going a little slower today. A good thing considering the state of her body. Not even a week into all of this and she’d gotten herself caught up with going after thugs. She’d barely gotten used to using a gun, not to mention the other variety of weapons she’d picked up along the way. And of course, it takes a little more than a couple of days to get over the shock of seeing what used to be your world beaten to submission and stripped to ruin. Having been gone long enough for a new world to take its place, long enough for several new generations to pay for their ancestor's actions...it was nauseating. 

What killed her most was seeing the trees. It was Autumn in those last moments she spent back in her time. It all felt like a sacrilegious mockery of the changing of the seasons. Instead of nature taking its slow course, with the leaves floating to the ground so as not to disturb the grass, humanity tore away every leaf with one blast. The color green was ripped away from them, as Eden had been. The trees became pale sentinels. What few branches they had left were heavy with fruit of betrayal, of the burden of watching over a dead eternity. 

Her hand going instinctively to the ring tied around her neck, Beth packed her things into a green army backpack and headed down the stairs and out of the home. Another sensation you never thought you’d miss: the change of atmosphere between the indoors and outdoors. Here, it was all the same. Hot. Sticky. Dust everywhere. And fucking depressing. 

Dead shit here, empty remnants of her life there. This wasn’t the future. To her, it felt like an ongoing death. The moment those bombs dropped was the moment time had stopped. 

Her eyes traced the familiar yet alien landscape. How strange it was to be where home was supposed to be, but feel further away from it than ever. 

She adjusted her pack on her shoulders, calling Dogmeat away from the corpse he’d been inspecting. 

“Let’s go, boy. We have a long road ahead of us,” said Beth, not realizing the depth of her own words. 

She didn't know why she had to be the one to have survived so long. But she figured whatever presided over the universe had long since left the humans to their own devices. Looking around at the wasteland, she realized she would have done the same. It must have been a tiring thing to fight against this, trying to sustain life in a world always bound to destroy itself.


End file.
